Steam rooms for South African homes, lodges and hotels

Tanking comes before slate or tile

Floor and walls are coated with a liquid waterproofing system that continues onto the ceiling, with reinforcing fabric bedded into every internal corner. The screed falls 1:50 to the gully, and only after a flood test does the slate or porcelain go on. The ceiling is sloped or vaulted so condensate runs down the walls rather than dripping on bathers.

The system needs its drying time between coats and before tiling. A builder who promises a steam room in a fortnight has cut that time somewhere.

Water, which changes across the country

Hardness varies enormously in South Africa — soft in much of the Cape, harder on parts of the Highveld and inland. We test the water at the property, because the descaling interval of the generator depends on it and guessing wrong costs a generator.

The generator lives in a ventilated cupboard beside the room — close enough for a short steam line, open enough to service — and never inside the wet room itself.

In a lodge or hotel we add a softener on the feed wherever the test shows hard water, because a commercial generator that scales solid closes the room for the week it takes to replace, usually in the busiest month.

Durban is a different brief

On the KZN coast the room will not dry out on its own. Mechanical extract on a humidistat rather than a timer, ducted outside, and a continuous vapour barrier on the warm side with every penetration sealed. A gap in a barrier here traps moisture in the wall, which is worse than having none.

Budget and how it is built

Indicatively, R88,000 to R140,000 buys a steam room for two or three people, and R150,000 to R290,000 a slate-lined room for four to six with a pitched ceiling. Generator, controls and benching are made in Istanbul and bench-tested before they ship; allow 6–10 weeks after the drawing is signed, plus the sea passage to Cape Town or Durban. Send us the room dimensions for an itemised quote.

In short

• Waterproofing on floor, walls and ceiling, flood-tested before tiling
• Floor falls 1:50, ceiling sloped or vaulted, full drying time respected
• Water tested at the property — hardness varies across the country
• Humidistat-controlled extract on the KZN coast